The industry group representing Apple, Microsoft, HP and IBM has argued that if Australian competition law is changed to ban the so-called Australia tax on technology, it might drive companies out of the country.

Apple, Intel, Salesforce.com, and now Microsoft are just a few of the big corporate names adding their voice forward to protest Arizona's SB 1062, a law that would allow employees and workplaces to discriminate against people based on their religious beliefs.

Weeks after US privacy groups called on Microsoft to disclose law enforcement requests to Skype, amid controversy over China surveillance and snooping, the software giant did. While China appears low in the table, the devil is in the details.

US laws do more to protect locally hosted data than Australian laws, and data sovereignty is an imaginary issue getting in the way of cloud adoption, according to Microsoft technical evangelist Rocky Heckman.

Microsoft has warned people of a localised strain of malware that masquerades as a message from a country's local law enforcement.The 'ransomware' — malware that takes control of a user's device and demands payment to unlock the computer — was detailed by Microsoft on Monday.

I must admit, since I rejoined the ranks of public transport users, I was delighted to use the ShowNearby app on my Android to help me figure out which bus would arrive earlier and the fastest routes home. With this information, I figured I have been able to shave 10 to 15 minutes every day.